As the World Turns
by autumnbane
Summary: Life wasn't easy. You have to deal with lies, death, despair, betrayal and… love. Dr. Isabella Swan had tried to forget everything she had before and avoid more pain, but she then she learned it was impossible. Not after Edward Cullen entered her life.
1. Prologue

**AN: Very old lady writing fanfictions again. This time with new penname, another fandom, more drama, though. Hope you enjoy it! Send me some love with your reviews!**

**This chapter was not beta'ed, so everything here is my fault. **

**As the World Turns**

**Prologue**

Sitting behind her desk in her office, Dr. Tanya Denali was worried.

As doctor and also assistant to Dr. Isabella Swan, she hoped she wouldn't get into more problems. _Again._

She sighed as she dropped on her desk another resume. She needed to choose two names, two candidates to apply two offers as doctors of Dr. Swan's team. Those people would be her colleagues.

Not that she needed that.

Dr. Swan (her boss) was a _very _difficult person.That's why Dr. Esme Platt (her boss-boss) asked Tanya to hire two doctors as soon as possible, for Isabella Swan was hitting some hard limits at Forks Women Care Center, where she worked for two years.

In three days, after putting the advertisement online, Tanya received more than three hundred resumes of candidates for the two offers. Incredible too much for a job with average income. But people needed a job. People needed money.

Being assistant to Dr. Isabella Swan was no easy task. Just ask both her previous assistants. They could say that. Peter and Charlotte were fired after Isabella found out they were in a relationship between four walls. The four walls of their office in the hospital, where Isabella found them together, obviously without clothes.

That was the reason she prayed everything would be all right and she would have no problems. She would hire more two doctors. They would do their job. They would help Tanya control Isabella Swan and everything would be okay. No problems. No pushing. No pressure. No accidents. No Dr. Swan trying to start a World War in that small city.

After some wondering, Tanya tried to focus on the present.

Two offers.

Three hundred and forty four resumes.

Six selected for interviews in the current week.

She rubbed her temples before closing her eyes. She read too much in the past days and eyes and head were hurting. Maybe it was time to give up and just hire _someone. _

Whatever.

She stood on her feet and took her purse, collecting her personal items and cleaning her desk for the day.

As her desk stood empty and organized as she or nobody were never there in that same day, she decided to spread the six resumes on it.

Eyes closed.

Finger up.

She let her index finger fall on one of the six CVs and opened her blue eyes, taking that one out.

And she did that once more to choose another one.

Tomorrow she would call both of them and set the interviews up.

She read again the names her finger pointed minutes ago, raising an eyebrow.

_That will be fun._


	2. Chapter 1

_**Four years ago**_

_Isabella Swan placed her right hand on her huge belly and tried to feel her baby kicking._

_But there were no more kicks._

_In the morning her baby was so agitated, she was getting even more anxious kick after kick. But fortunately her child decided to give her a break and to rest for the rest of the day._

_Maybe that was the plan._

_She smiled despite everything, caressing her belly._

_The baby would be her world._

_Her world alone, because she would live just for him._

Yeah, him.

_She learned the day before she was having a son. Curiosity was almost killing her, and after her daily call to Charlie, she decided to open the envelope doctor Eleazar Santos gave her weeks ago, which it contained the gender's information about her child._

_And for the next few weeks she would have to think about a name for him._

_She thought on naming him after her grandpa Geoffrey Swan._

_It would suit him._

Yeah, _she thought._ Just perfect.

* * *

**As the World turns**

**Chapter 1**

Esme Platt sighed heavily as she was getting out of her car.

The reason of her sudden weariness was coming right in her direction – Dr. Isabella Swan.

Just the sight of the young doctor worried her. Every single day there was a problem caused by her for Esme to solve.

She tried to hide. Maybe there was a chance to escape. But Isabella had already seen her. And _damn her, _she came straight in her direction. Esme hadn't any time to think or run.

Dr. Swan flashed her a bright but also a cynical smile, which hit another nerve in Esme. She wasn't in the mood for Isabella's strange sense of humor and sarcasm.

"Good morning, sunshine", Isabella said as she noticed her boss' apprehension, so upset she was. With her, no less. "How are you today?"

Esme ignored her and headed to her office with Isabella right behind her, as if she was her shadow.

"What happened? Did Carlisle last only two seconds last night?" Dr. Swan teased her.

"How do you…?" Esme paled and her eyes widened as she heard the remark. Then she saw Isabella's grin and rolled her eyes. "Never mind."

"Do you really think nobody knows about you and him?" Dr. Swan asked as she plopped into one of the chairs of Esme's office.

"I don't care if someone else knows," Esme snapped. "Just if you keep making remarks about my personal life because of the lack of yours."

"Oh, come on," Isabella pursed her lips. "I worry about your dates, you know. Remember Charles?" She saw her boss cringing as she heard the name. "He was a douche. You really should thank me after I proved he was screwing his secretary."

Esme was silent. She knew Isabella was right. She was human and therefore made many mistakes, and Charles Evenson was one of them.

"Did you hire two doctors for your team?" she decided to ask, changing the subject. Charles was still off limits in her mind and interactions. Just with Carlisle she could talk about him, and just for five minutes.

That just made Isabella to grin again. Esme suddenly wanted to shove a tack of medical files into her mouth. She would _love _to make that smug expression disappear.

"Tanya is taking care of everything. By the end of the day you'll receive the names," she finally answered.

Esme opened her mouth to speak, shut it, opened it again.

"You gave her all that resumes?" she blurted out, visibly shocked.

"Yep," Dr. Swan answered, popping the last letter.

"It was more than three hundred resumes!" she half-screamed in exasperation. Isabella could pull some reactions just like hers from others. "Are you trying to make Tanya quit too? Because I think she totally should."

Isabella's face suddenly was somewhat dark.

"She should, but she won't," she said. "She volunteered to do that herself, since I would hire the first two candidates without interviewing them. Her words, not mine."

Esme sighed audibly and tried to look serene. "You wouldn't have so much trouble if you hadn't fired Peter and Charlotte. Their relationship _wasn't_ interfering in their work."

"They both knew about my _rules," _Isabella told her simply. "_No relationships_ under my supervision. Casual or serious, whatever. It's not allowed."

Esme looked into her brown eyes and couldn't read her. Why was she so damn difficult to read? "I wish someday you could tell me everything that happened to you."

Isabella didn't blink as she slowly get off of the chair and leaned on her boss' desk. "Don't ask for what you don't want to hear, Esme."

"I want to help you," she told her in a whisper. "To know what happened to you after medical school. To know why you pretend life is not important anymore, why you're so upset with everything, why you're so against with everybody's relationships."

"I'm not against you and Carlisle, I think you're… _cute_ together, but you're not working for me," Isabella backed off and stood in front of Esme's desk, taking some invisible dust of her shoulder. The word _cute _sounded too sarcastic for Esme's ears. "Tanya will give you two names until six o'clock. Don't worry; they will control me just as you want them to do, but they will never know how to answer your questions. I know you tried the same once with Peter," she smiled sweetly after seeing Esme's dark features.

She knew it.

She knew Peter was spying on her.

"I ignored _that_ for months and just waited for him to start an affair with Charlotte to have a reason to fire him. She was just… collateral damage in the process."

Esme looked away, avoiding Isabella's smug look, because she knew deep in Peter and Charlotte were both fired because of her.

"Don't try to control me, Esme," Isabella warned, heading to the door.

After she was gone, Esme sighed and shook her head.


	3. Chapter 2

**Three years ago**

_Isabella turned and turned and turned in her bed._

_The baby cries were louder than before. It sounded even worse than in the past months. _

_It was for sure because the _baby _was hungry, but she wasn't a mother, so she couldn't really say what the baby wanted. _

_She tried to cover her head with a fluffy pillow, but it was useless._

_There was no help for her with that, she knew that._

_And she felt the tears flowing in her face, muffling her sobs with the pillow._

* * *

**As the World Turns**

**Chapter 2**

The cafeteria inside the building of the hospital had the best muffins of the world and they didn't even knew that.

Well, at least Isabella Swan knew this and was taking full advantage of it.

It was so delicious, even Grandma Swan couldn't make one better than theirs.

She was inconspicuously licking her fingers because they were covered in frosting, when she saw _him _standing by her table.

A child.

A three or four-year old boy.

He had brown eyes and blond hair, was quiet and seemed to be so sad looking into her eyes.

And his were like mirrors of hers, she was full aware of that.

She _knew _him, but they didn't change a word, not even a "hi".

She didn't know how long she stared at him, trying to suffocate her anxiety as she waited for him to say something, _anything. _

But, as in so many past occasions, he said nothing.

"Something interesting?" she heard someone saying behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw Tanya Denali smiling at her. It seemed she was in good mood today.

"I was thinking if I could eat one more cupcake or if I should shut my mouth soon," she answered carefully. Then she looked to where the boy stood before Tanya came in.

There was no one there.

And she didn't seem to be surprise.

"I don't think you should worry about your body," Tanya said smiling to her, making Isabella turning her face again and forgetting about the boy who just disappeared. "I don't remember a day you needed exercise after eating so much. You're blessed with that."

Isabella scoffed. _Blessed. _After everything, Tanya still tried to use that word with her.

Shaking her head, she stood, taking the tray with her. "News? Already hired someone?"

Tanya clapped her hands together. "Yes. You _have _to meet them."

Isabella crooked an eyebrow, starting to walk out of the cafeteria. She sounded too _happy _for her ears. "Really? Who are they?"

"Dr. Jasper Whitlock and Dr. Mary Alice Brandon. He's graduated from UTMB and Brandon studied Medical School in Florida," Tanya beamed as she was speaking and following her boss out the cafeteria.

"Wow," Isabella deadpanned, stopping her track. "They lived so… close, right?"

Tanya frowned. "Do you think so?"

"Never mind," the other woman stated and starting to walk again. "Why are they waiting for me? Did they already talk to Dr. Platt?"

"They did. They will start tomorrow. Or today, if you want to."

"Nah," Isabella waved her hand. "They can start tomorrow, no problem. We have nothing to worry today."

"About that…" Tanya smiled sardonically as she pulled a file off her white coat. Isabella just rolled her eyes. "Six year old girl. Food allergy. Poor thing can eat anything and the mother wants to know how to deal with it. She doesn't know what her daughter can eat or not. I could take care of her, but Esme wanted _you_ to do _something _in your clinic hours today."

"Of course she wants to," Isabella scoffed.

"And Carlisle wants to speak with you."

"Of course he wants to," she scoffed again.

"He said you didn't come to your appointment," Tanya stopped and Isabella slowed her steps, but didn't stop. "You can't do this; your treatment…"

"I'm fine," Isabella lied, then started walking quickly. "Which room?"

"Room?" Tanya repeated, trying to follow her.

"Where the kid is."

Tanya sighed, but Isabella didn't hear it. Thank God. "Room 215. Go see her and then Carlisle. You have to take this too."

Isabella blanched as she saw an orange pill in Tanya's palm.

"I…" she blinked. Twice. "I thought I didn't need one today?" she tried to sound calm and like a question, as she didn't know a thing about it.

Tanya raised a perfect eyebrow. Her boss was so stubborn. Like she didn't know what she was doing.

She saw as Dr. Swan took the pill and tried to swallow it sans water.

"Show me," she ordered.

Isabella opened her mouth. There was no pill.

"Tongue out."

People were looking them both as Isabella rolled her brown eyes and stuck her tongue out to Tanya. She checked it and saw nothing hidden under of it.

"Good girl," she praised her boss and then started walking away. "Dr. Cullen wants to see you at three in his room."

Isabella stood there, hands in her pockets, watching her… _friend _walking in another direction. As she completely disappeared, she run to the closest restroom and sunk to her knees.

And started throwing up with no control.

After fifteen minutes, she finally stood and went to the sink, the faucet running as she washed her mouth and then her face. She took a while trying to wash the disgust taste off her mouth, and when she was finally satisfied, she looked herself in the mirror.

She was okay.

She would be okay.

The boy in the cafeteria was just a slip.

A not so _innocent _slip she had every now and then.


	4. Chapter 3

**As the World Turns**

**Chapter 3**

After throwing up in the restroom of the hospital, Isabella decided to go home to recover herself. Her phone didn't stop ringing for one entire hour after she sent a sms to Tanya. She wrote she wasn't feeling very well and for that reason she was done for the day. Every call went to her voicemail, messages from Esme, Carlisle and Tanya within minutes of difference from one call to another.

She spent the rest of the day in her bed, trashing with nightmares as usual, dark dreams hunting her for the past three years, and went to the hospital just in the next morning.

She also thought that spending the rest of the day at home could avoid her appointment with Carlisle Cullen, also her boss and friend.

But she was wrong.

And she saw him just after pulling out in her spot in the hospital parking lot. He was already waiting for her. _Damn._

"Good morning, Isabella," he said with a weird smile when she stepped out of her car and went in his direction. "Weird" because she couldn't exactly say if he was in a good mood or not.

"Morning, Doc," she looked warily to both sides. "What's up?"

"'Up?'" he repeated, as tasting her word. "You ask me what 'up' is after what you did yesterday?"

_Oh shit._

He was mad. He was smiling, but he was mad at her.

She could deal with Esme every time she got her mad, but Carlisle was a very different story.

"I need to talk to you, Isabella," he spoke very carefully, as he trying to calm himself. "Dr. Denali said she'll welcome two new doctors and you can speak with them after," he gestured in the direction of the building. "_Much _after, I must say."

She sighed and followed him into his office.

"I heard it, Isabella," he said, without looking at her.

"Heard what?"

"You sighing," he answered back.

She sighed again, making him stop walking when they were two steps away from the hospital's entrance.

"Are you testing my abilities in hearing or something?", he asked in a very calm voice. She gave him no answer and he held the door of his office opened so he could walk after she entered.

"I was just sighing, Carlisle," she replied as she sat in her usual spot, an old couch that Carlisle let in a corner of his office.

"Explain then why are you sighing too much, Miss Swan."

_Miss Swan. _She was no longer her employer at that moment, but her _doctor_.

"I have a bad night," she answered in a protective way, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Care to share?"

She was thoughtful for a couple of minutes, while Carlisle was staring at her.

The point was: Isabella Swan couldn't say what was wrong with her.

She knew exactly that the boy in the cafeteria was a part of her past she wanted to keep, but Carlisle and Tanya could understand what she felt.

"Well?", he asked, trying gently to persuade her to speak her thoughts.

Years ago, the newly graduated Dr. Swan discovered she saw things that didn't exist.

Like the boy in the cafeteria.

After a year in treatment in a psychiatric hospital where she met Tanya Denali, whom was her nurse, Carlisle admitted her as a doctor in his hospital. They were friends at the time of medical school.

Then she went to Forks, after convincing him to hire Tanya in his hospital.

Only Tanya and Carlisle knew what happened to her, all the drama, all her secrets.

But that boy, she wanted to keep him only to her.

"Nothing, Carlisle," she finally answered, without breaking eye contact.

If he knew what she was saying, she had to come back to the psychiatric hospital.

* * *

Only minutes before Carlisle and Isabella entered his office, in another room another situation was discussed.

Tanya Denali stood in front of two doctors – a woman so small that could be easily mistaken as a teenager, but not as a 25-year old cardiologist, and a man with blonde hair and blue eyes. When he first spoke, as he introduced himself, Tanya recognized a charming Texan accent.

"Do you understand you situation?", she asked them.

The question was answered from nods of Jasper Whitlock and Mary Alice Brandon, followed by one question.

"We're really working on the clinic and emergency cases instead of doing researches for the hospital? Why?" Alice asked, curiosity killing her.

"We have another kind of deal with Dr. Swan. She's our best doctor for women's diseases at this moment," Tanya restricted herself in saying anything that could be considered suspicious. "We have to keep her."

Of course it was a lie. Since she met Isabella, things were in that way. Her boss and friend would never expose her past and could happily live in that small city forever, if it was the case of someone never finding her again.

"Here, you first case," she gave them copies of some file, trying to change the subject. "This kid was hospitalized yesterday. He's in ICU. Pneumonia. His mother didn't know and he got worse in the last days because of the influenza."

"Oh," Dr. Brandon said.

"Just make the normal procedure for pneumonia and check on him," Tanya said, pushing her strawberry blond off her shoulders. "And no word about our deal."

"Of course," said Jasper.

As Tanya was about to dismiss them, she saw through the wall glass Dr. Swan closely following Carlisle Cullen. So he found her after all… Her absent caused so much stress on Esme. Even through they knew she was highly probably sick, the hours without her in the hospital were the most chaotic Tanya ever witnessed.

"It's _her, _right?" she heard Dr. Brandon asking.

Tanya turned her face and saw the worried face of Dr. Brandon.

"She won't like our… arrangement," she finally said. "She'll find out about _everything. _She won't like it."

"And how do you exactly know about it?" Tanya was losing her patience with that woman half her size.

"I can feel it," the other woman answered without hesitation.

"You're saying that you're _feeling_ Dr. Swan will look into your eyes and absolutely _know _that you both are married, even after we forged every detail of your pasts and changed your names?" Tanya asked in a sweet voice.

Both Jasper and Alice nodded in synchronization again.

"Oh please," Tanya spoke in a sarcastic way, turning her heels and ignoring Alice's opinion. "Let's check the boy in the clinic. I really doubt you'll meet Dr. Swan today."

* * *

**Three years ago**

_More baby cries._

_Increasing. Louder. Painful._

_Isabella sat in the edge of her bed and rubbed her eyes. Her father said she should sleep as much as she wanted, but it was just impossible to close her eyes and ignore the loud baby cries in the house._

_She stood, still rubbing her eyes, and went to the nursery that she and her father built for the new member of the family – a boy. Geoffrey Swan._

_Suddenly, she stopped walking and stood there in front of the door as she remembered something very important._

_Hesitantly, she opened the door and felt her heart almost breaking in pain as she slowly approached the crib in blue shades. _

_There was no baby there._


End file.
